Like Ian Campbell (Letters, 6 May), I too live in Buckinghamshire and had to force myself to go to the polls on Thursday to cast what I knew would probably be a wasted vote, although at least at local level, with three choices on the voting slip, I had some small chance of my vote having weight. However, until the system for electing our national government moves away from first-past-the-post, voters like me are in effect entirely disenfranchised.
Jill Wallis
Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire
• The Hartlepool electorate is 70,000. About 28,000 voted on Thursday, in such a high-profile byelection. It looks like a massive win for the silent majority.
Stephanie Bailey
Norton-sub-Hamdon, Somerset
• Sheila Bailey’s letter asking what “British values” are (Letters, 4 May) reminded me that I posed a similar question in the Guardian letters page a few years ago, asking if readers could name a value that is uniquely applicable to the people of this country. The only response was that it’s uniquely British (or English?) to find Carry On films funny. They’re not, but they do seem to have provided the model for our current government.
Mark Walford
London
• In the interests of accuracy, what can be seen coming out of cooling towers is not steam, which is invisible, but water vapour (Letters, 6 May). Yes, I know I should get out more.
Richard Bull
Woodbridge, Suffolk
• Re the giant wood moth found in Australia (Report, 5 May) – a behemoth surely?
Jill Hearing
Dorchester, Dorset
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